Feeling ill (in normal times) is no excuse for not going to school

I was always trying to be off school with one ailment or another

I produced 3 children who probably had 5 days off between them from primary school to college

My son never had a day off

Very odd.

No staying home for us, either.
If we did, we had to make sure we didn't give any hint of feeling better, or mum would have made us go in for the afternoon.

Wow you ladies are harsh. Keep your sick kids home! Its not rocket science nor is it coddling them. Sick people need to quarantine, not get a dose of ibuprofen to bring their temperature down....

I actually don’t remember having time off school except for when I had measles, chicken pox and mumps (not at the same time) . Like many posters on here my mum used to say if ‘you’re well enough to play out you’re well enough to go to school’. My parents instilled in us a strong work ethic. Today apart from Covid symptoms of course, some people seem to take days off for the flimsiest of reasons. How society has changed.

I was always packed off to school until one morning when I nearly fell in a heap. I'd been alright but this was a near faint, it turned out that I had tonsillitis and had to have my throat painted with a brown solution that used to make me gag.
Within a few days once I'd started eating properly again I was then bunged off to school, no argument.

Mum sent us to school no matter what---" you'll soon get over it once you're there " was her war-cry.
Her voice in my ear has carried me through life and taught me to ignore many " ill feelings " and carry on.
Tough is right Jane10.

Oh yes. In the unusual event that we were off school due to illness we had to be in bed. No coming downstairs or watching TV. If you were ill you were ill. I was even left in bed ill on Christmas day while the family all went out to grandparents for Christmas lunch. A neighbour popped in to check I was OK and gave me a toffee. Whoopee. By gum we were tough in those days. No choice!!

I was sent to school unless I had an infectious illness, verified by the doctor who did home visits, (those were the days) and kept in bed and not allowed downstairs until I was fully recovered.
No, 'he was off sick yesterday with tonsillitis so he lay on the sofa watching TV, but he's all right today so I've sent him back'.

I had the reverse problem. Although I was never allowed to have what is now known as a duvet day, my mother had strict rules to be followed if I had had any illness which might be considered contagious. The day before the proposed return to school I had to go out for a lengthy walk to ensure that I was fit enough. I used to dread this in case anyone saw me and thought I was truanting!

As one who had to deal with the children who were sent to school when ill, I offer another perspective.
Little Felicity, sent in to school with "a bit of a temperature, but I've given her some Calpol," suffers projectile vomiting an hour later during a maths lesson, spraying the contents of her stomach over several classmates and the floor.
Maths lesson is abandoned as my classroom assistant and I organise the cleaning up and try to stop the domino affect that the sight and smell of vomit has on small children.
Two children start retching so I usher 30 children outside for a quick PE session and try to include a bit of maths at the same time.
The following day the bug spreads through my class and I keep plastic bowls dotted around the room, "just in case."
The whole school gets affected in the end and staff start dropping like flies.
Best of all some parents blame the school for the situation and, thanks to the playground mafia, we get a series of irate letters dropped of.
Just one example. I could give you more. Remind me to tell you the story of the girl with the broken leg who needed escorting to the toilet at regular intervals, or best of all, the lady who gave her son a 5ml spoonful of Ibobrufen gel, told us what she'd done, was horrified when I told her that it was for external use only then cleared off to work and left me to deal with the aftermath!

Oh gosh yes. Apart from anything else we were told that 'family name' don't get colds'! We believed Dad when he told us that.

Yes I remember if your well enough to go to go out you are well enough to go to school.

On the rare occasions we were off school ill, we were not allowed to step outside in case anyone saw us, because if you were well enough to do that, you were well enough for school.

If you are ill, especially with something contagious, you should not go to school or work.